Karl Burke's Convergent may bid for more Group race glory in the Betway Rose Of Lancaster Stakes as racing returns to Haydock Park this Saturday. The trainer is also hoping stable star Fallen Angel can get her season up and running on the same afternoon.
Return to Haydock
The Merseyside track will host two days of top-class Flat action on Friday night and Saturday afternoon after all their summer fixtures were abandoned due to the 'Haydock hole', which was discovered in the home straight during racing on Temple Stakes day back in May.
There are 10 entries for Saturday's feature race, the Group Three Rose Of Lancaster Stakes, with the Roger Varian-trained progressive Sallaal the 10-11 favourite with William Hill. The entries include Liverpool FC fan Burke's Convergent, who will drop back in trip to 1m2½f and grade – having been a distant fifth in heavy ground in the Group One Coronation Cup at Epsom and last of four in the Group Two Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Newmarket's July meeting, both over 1m4f.
Convergent's Form
The four-year-old son of Fascinating Rock had won the Group Three John Porter Stakes at Newbury on his seasonal return, having took a similar contest at Leopardstown last September as well as the Group Two Prix du Conseil de Paris at ParisLongchamp the following month. He is currently a 10-1 chance with bet365 for the Rose Of Lancaster and Burke will make a decision on his participation when declarations are made on Thursday.
The North Yorkshire handler said: “I’ve put him in the Rose of Lancaster. We’ll see how he works in the morning but there’s a strong possibility he’ll go there. Epsom I just put down to the ground and that was easy to excuse, but the other day I’m not sure if it was the mile and a half down to the start and then the mile and a half back on fast ground – I hate making excuses, but that was going from one extreme to the other. He probably just wants good ground ideally, good to soft would be perfect. We gave him a full MOT and he was fine, we haven’t done a lot with him so he’s looking a bit heavy, but a good bit of work should blow him out nicely and hopefully we can go on Saturday.”
Other Entries
Others entries in the Rose Of Lancaster Stakes include the John and Thady Gosden-trained Nahraan, who was ninth in the Listed Wolferton Stakes at Royal Ascot on his seasonal return; the Ralph Beckett-trained Pride Of Arras, who landed the Dante Stakes and Great Voltigeur Stakes at York last year but was down the field in the English and Irish Derbies; and Ed Bethell's Zetland Gold Cup winner Danger Bay. Nahraan is 9-2 second favourite with Pride Of Arras a 6-1 chance with William Hill and bet365, while Danger Bay is available at 10-1 with the latter firm.
Fallen Angel's Return
Fallen Angel heads the 21 entries in the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Dick Hern Stakes. The five-year-old daughter of Too Darn Hot is a top level performer, having won five Group Ones including the Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket at two, the Irish 1,000 Guineas at three and three straight wins last season – the last of which was a decisive victory over current star miler Blue Bolt in the Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket last October.
But the quick ground this summer has been against her and she has run just once all season when last of four on her seasonal return over 1m2½f in the Group Two Middleton Fillies’ Stakes at York in May. Burke is hopeful the ground at Haydock will good enough for her to use the Listed contest as a springboard back to the top level.
Burke said: “If they’ve done a good job with the watering, which you’d think they would with it being the first meeting back, the plan is to run her. I’m sure they’ll try to produce real good ground. She’s actually been ready to run for two months so this weather has been no help to her. We made a decision not to run her on fast ground as it isn’t fair on her, she likes cut in the ground. As long as it is good ground she will go there.”
The returning Calendar Girl – from the Owen Burrows' stable; Grant Tuer's Bellarchi – who has won four of her last six starts; and the Andrew Balding-trained Pacific Mission are others among the entries for the Dick Hern Stakes.
Track Repairs
Saturday's meeting is the second of two days action at the Merseyside track which will be the first fixtures since a hole on the course was discovered during racing in May. Subsequent checks of the course were made and the summer meetings including the Lancashire Oaks and Old Newton Cup fixture at the start of last month were cancelled.
No racing has taken place at Haydock since May 23 with the Merseyside course losing eight fixtures overall as they tired to identify and repair the problem with the hole. Initially it was thought to be a drainage issue but further investigation revealed the cause was a fissure associated with historic mining activity in the area. The work to rectify it has now completed and Haydock was given the all-clear from the British Horseracing Authority to resume racing this weekend.
Clerk of the course Daniel Cooper told the Racing Post: "Essentially, the problem was a fissure, which is a small crack in the sub-surface of the soil at bedrock level, well below the track itself. There's not necessarily a mine below the hole, it's just the general area has mining heritage and the ground has moved over time because of that. It was quite small in nature but what we found required quite a lengthy consultation with experts."
Work on the outer course saw the excavation reach nearly the size of an Olympic swimming pool and clearly made racing throughout the summer unsafe. Haydock officials have also put measures in place to avoid related problems with the track.
Meeting Details
Friday's meeting begins at 5.43pm with Pete Tong Ibiza Classics Live after racing – the last race is due off at 8.38pm. Tickets start from £49 for Friday night's meeting. The first race on Saturday, the Betway Leigh Handicap Stakes, is due off at 1.50pm with the finale at 5.10pm. Gates open at 11.50am on Saturday tickets arr £30 if bought in advance. To book tickets and for more information go online at the Jockey Club website.
